The Darkest Secrets
by ThaliaThornGrace
Summary: "I had never thought about dying, until it happened." Trapped in a world with demons, spirits and cold ones, this wasn't exactly how Mindy wanted to spend the rest of her Summer. Confused Mindy doesn't know what to do, then she meets the cocky, polite Arthur who somehow makes the Cold World bearable. "Yet for some reason, I always fantasize about strangling him." R&R!


**Chapter One:**

I had never taken spare time to think about how I died. Until it happened. That pain the burning fire that hit my body, lighting it on fire. It seemed endless when it was happening. I begged myself to keep holding on. To make it through. I never knew what had killed me, all that flickered through my mind was the pain. The mental screams of agony that raged on. And on. I figured it would keep going on forever.

But the horrifying thing was, I knew I was dying, or at least in a coma or something. I tried my best during the moments of pain, the screams of agony that echoed through my mind to remind myself that it would be over soon, all that fire and endless misery. All those faces of whom I cared about flashed through my mind, it went on for what seemed like forever. Until their faces faded and one moment they flickered off. As if my brain had been turned off, into an automatic shut down.

I needed something to grasp onto. I promised myself I wouldn't stop hanging on. But how could I keep hanging on, if there was nothing to hold onto?

I swam through the dark waters. Every stroke I made trying to get to the top, pushed a pressure down on me and made me sink deeper into the darkness. I franticly waved my arms, pushing, pushing, trying to get the top, away from the darkness that seemed to be calling me in. Trying to lure me in. But I promised myself I would never let go. My fingertips brushed the icy water that seemed to be shooting up my body, making it numb. The deeper it got, the colder it got. The deeper it got the darker it got. Not anything inviting.

A few days, weeks, maybe even months. (I had lost count a while ago.) The pain was gone, replaced by the numbness. I was in complete utter darkness, the water full of mavelance. What was the point of trying if there was no hope; all the hope was lost in the darkness and the numbness. I opened my mouth and let out a scream of terror as the cold took hold of me and pushed me into the black murky waters.

I woke my head throbbing, but my eyes were closed. It was a peculiar feeling, to wake up only to realize that your eyelids were still closed. Thump. My head thumped. Though surprisingly there was no pain at all. Just a numbness. The water? Am I alive? Thump. All these thoughts ran through my mind. Making my head thump even more. Terrified to open my eyes, afraid I would be in that vivid cold water.

I opened my eyelids slowly carefully as if a knife would fall on them if I didn't. I gasped in surprise. I felt cold, a freezing feeling shot up her spine. I gasped again. I was on my back staring up at the starry night. They taunted me, as if saying that they were warm and I wasn't. I sat up. Thump. Shrugging the thumping of my head off, trying not to worry about it. Why should I care about that, when I didn't know where I was?

I took a breath in, covering my hand over my mouth, realizing I didn't know who I even was. Who was I? I flopped back down putting my head in my hands. I waited for the tears to come, but they didn't come. Was crying even a real thing, or earth? I couldn't remember, which made my head thump even more.

"Hey." I heard a voice say, searching through my mind trying to remember if this male voice was familiar. I didn't recognize the voice, but then again I didn't recognize myself.

I stood up jolting back. The boy looked around fifteen. "Relax, I know you're confused. It'll be okay." Those words. They comforted my sub consouis mind. It'll be okay.

I choked back a sob "Who am I?" He smiled in sympathy, it was friendly but depressing in a way.

"Yeah I know, but you'll get used to it." Get used to it? I rather didn't want to get used to this. I wanted to go home. Home. I remembered a flash of a warm, cozy house. I would do anything to feel that warmth. But that was evidence that I could remember a little. Little pieces at a time. Soon I'd complete the puzzle of who I was.

"I-I'm scared," I whimpered. I felt like a total baby, but at the moment I could care less. He chuckled a sorrowful laugh. "I'll explain everything soon, but can I show you were you can stay?" Stay? I didn't want to stay anywhere. I wanted to stay at home.

I took a breath, but it was cut off by a sob. I choked it down, and breathed out again. I made a snap decision to go with him. I didn't know who I was, but maybe he could lead me to home. And tell me who I was. But something about his expression didn't give me hope, about him telling me who I was, or to take me back home. But I guess he could explain what was going on.

"Fine," I grumbled, trying to hide back my fear and sadness. He sighed leaving the tree and approaching me.

"So what can I call you?" Of all the things he could be worried about it's that, and then a thought occurred to me. He wasn't going through this I was. Something stabbed my chest. What was the feeling? Anger? Sadness? Then I realized it was envy. I glanced at him and saw he was waiting for me to reply.

I shrugged my shoulders. He laughed. I stared into his eyes, he was hiding something, and some depressing energy was emerging from him. I shuddered.  
"So I can call you nobody?" I shrugged my shoulders not really caring about that, at the moment.  
"How 'bout I call you Amanda?" Amanda? So that meant I was a girl.

"I'm a girl?" He nodded. "I guess you can call me Amanda, maybe Mindy…" My voice trailed off. He grinned. "Mindy- I like it," I was waiting for my cheeks to light on fire but there was nothing.

I said in horror "Why am I so… cold?" He sighed staring at the ground. "I- you'll know what's going on soon enough?"

I could feel my eyes deepening into as glare. "How about now," I retorted. He sighed. Then I said quickly "Well, what could I call you?" He laughed his voice strong as if it was cutting through glass.

He wiped a tear from his eye. I folded my arms. He stopped grinning.

"I suppose it's only fair." He paused for a moment as if waiting for something else. "I'm Arthur- you can call me Arty."

"Arty- I like it," I mimicked. He flashed a smile, but it disappeared as quick as it had come. Arthur put his hand to his mouth, his face thoughtful. Well? The rude voice said in my head. Isn't he going to say something? I shook the mean voice off. My body was still numb, but it was fading. Or maybe I was getting used to it. I still felt benumbed, though.

"It's complicated to explain. And it's also not, it depends on the person who's listening." I raised an eyebrow at his wisdom. He grinned at my expression. I said "What kind of riddle is that?" His eyes darkened.

"It means if you make this easy for me to explain it won't be too complicated and-" Arthur was cut off by the sound of horses. His eyes widened and he grabbed my wrist tightly.

"Hey-" I protested as he pulled me into the woods. We pushed past thickets, I swatted the needle branches away, but they still cut my hand. When I glanced at my free hand, there were absolutely no cuts at all. The horses sounded closer as he franticly yanked me along.

"THERE!" I heard a voice yell. I looked up at the figure who was standing there. I let out a scream that was muffled by Arthur's hand. It's eyes were a bright red, and it's skin was so pale and white it looked almost translucent, it had a long dark robe on covering his face so all you could see were his bloody, red eyes, that were vividly staring down upon you. He pulled me into the bush as I landed on my butt with a soft thud.

"What's wrong with-"He put his hand on my mouth and put his fingers to his lips. Arthur trembled as the horses footsteps echoed along the trail.

"Where did they go?" A raspy voice said thoughtfully. I heard another voice reply "We lost him." The voice sounded full of rage.

"There was someone else with him, a female." I heard the sound of feet hit the ground. And shook with fear. Their shadows were right next to us.

"YOU FOOL!" The voice hissed, as I heard a thump, it sounded as if the leader pushed the one to the ground.

"What did the girl look like?" He demanded, I heard the other one stand. "Well- master-I'm not entirely sure. I think she had um- black or brown long curly hair, about the same age as him." I wondered why they kept referring to Arthur as a 'him'. And why did they want me? I was just with him. And why did they wanht Arthur so badly? I stared at Arthur, his arms were wrapped around his knees, and his eyes were closed tightly.

"Very well, find Arthur later…" His voice trailed off "Find the female, she may be traveling with him. From this point on, she will be known as a fugitive." A what! A fugitive? Arthurs a fugitive, the world was spinning around me and my head was spinning. I waited for tears to come, but there was none, what so ever. The footsteps retreated and the sound of horses trotting off, slowly faded. I couldn't tell you how I felt, my head was full of mixed emotions.

Arthur slowly unwrapped his arms. I took a breath of relief but it felt… unnatural.

"Okay," I started quietly "what is going on!" He shook his head, and hesitantly took a step out from behind the bush. His hand reached down, offering to help me up. I sighed and said "I can get myself up, thank you very much." Arthur just shrugged. When I got up I asked. "You have a lot of explaining to do. Arty." I finished angrily. I could feel my glare coming.

"Not now." Did he just say not now? I clenched my fists, I had every right to know. Especially since what had just happened.

"Yes, now!" I stamped my foot. His eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. "Did you just- stamp your foot?" I looked down sheepishly, but then remembered how he wasn't telling me anything.

"Yeah- but that doesn't matter now!" Arthur rolled his eyes. "I told you not now." I bit my lip in anger, but it was icy cold.

"You know that's not fair."

"Isn't it?"

"No it's not!" I argued, his eyes darkened and he grabbed my wrist. I yanked it away. And hissed "I can walk." He glared at me, the one improper thing I've seen him do, ever since I met him. He began to walk away quickly and I followed right on his heels. He led me out of the woods and to the lake. When I saw it, I took a step back. My bottom lip began to tremble. Every inch in my bottom shook, I tried to remember why I was so scared, I remembered I loved the lake.

He stared at me pity in his eyes. "Look in the water and tell me what you see." I inched toward the lake but took a step back. Taking a deep breath I walked to the lake and peered over perching there. I gasped at the reflection in the lake. My eyes a deep blue and black curls bounding down my shoulders. But that's not why I gasped, my skin, it was pale and looked almost blue. I looked like a female version of Arthur.

I heard a voice say "What do you see?" I jumped slightly not realizing that Arthur had approached me.

"I see myself." I lied. He shook his head in disbelief. "Don't lie to yourself." I felt my bottom lip tremble and I collapsed on the ground.

"What did you do to me!" I cried putting my head in my hands. He plopped down next to me.

"I did nothing."

I raised my head from my hands. "Then what's wrong with me!" His eyes were full of guilt and pity.

He said not looking at me "You're dead."

Dead? Dead? I wanted to scream at him, throw all my problems in his face. But as i thought about his claim, I realized that it could be true. I could be dead, no the other voice inside of me said. That's ridiculous! But what about how cold I was, and what about those creatures Those could only be in fairytales, and what about how blue and almost translucent I was?

Surprisingly I didn't cry, not at all. I'm sure there was a horrified expression on my face, but I wasn't crying or sobbing my heart out. I wasn't in denial, I think It was because I had known all along.

"You're taking this well, better than I had expected you too." I took a breath and stood up. "So, let's say I am dead, is there like a rule book or something I have to follow?"

A mischievous grin spread out along his face. "Actually yes. But let's say I didn't follow the rules to well." I rolled my eyes, thinking about those things that were chasing us. "Sounds like you were in a load of trouble, when those things were chasing us."

Arthur sighed "Those things that were chasing us, they're called Demons."  
"And what are Demons?"

"Ghosts, except they were sent to the abyss from here. And before you ask an abyss is a place of punishment, they burn your skin off, and all that remains of your body is a skeleton, that's why they were wearing their robes."

I shuddered "that's nice."

He looked around as if someone was watching us, he cleared his throat. "I don't think this is the best place for us to chat, in fact you shouldn't even be with me... I don't know what I was thinking..." His voice trailed off, and the events of ten minutes ago played in my mind 'from now on she is known as a fugitive' what would they do to me, if they saw me again?

"Listen," Arthur said "I'm taking you to a friend he handles ghostlings well. (I didn't even bother asking what that was.) he'll explain everything. But I don't think I'll see you again, it's not safe for you to hang around me." I wanted to stay with him for some reason. Even though I had known him for less than an hour, I felt like I could trust him, like we had a bond. But I shivered at the thought of what the Demons would do to me. So I just nodded.

"Come on, his house isn't too far from here, but we'll have to travel quickly. We walked for a while, in silence awkwardness filling the air. I didn't try and break the silence by speaking, mostly I thought. I thought and I thought. About everything, it seemed like. I thought about the Demons, and me dying and I was waiting for someone to jump out of the trees and yell

"You just got PUNKED!" But sadly that didn't happen, and I wished immensely that it did. Finally we came to a small house, windows cracked the paint was peeling away and the roof seemed like it was precariously hanging onto the house.

But then I saw a small ranch, full of horses. My eyes widened in horror, and a lump in my throat blocked me from screaming and I was frozen in fear. There in front of me were creatures that resembled horses.

Only they weren't.

They had bright silver eyes that shone out like the moon. I couldn't tell their mood, they didn't seem to be happy, sad or frightened. But the thing that scared me most was instead of normal horses with flesh and blood and fur. These creatures had no flesh. They were skeleton horses and their bones gleamed.

I cried out, though it sounded choked. Arthur put a hand on my shoulder "relax, their my horses." Horses? Horses. Dead horses. Nothing unusual. I took a shaky breath.

"So anymore surprises I should know about?"  
He grinned "Probably." I rolled my eyes, and with that we walked up to the house.

His blue hands clenched into a fist, and for a moment I could see through his hand. I looked away quickly not sure I wanted to see a translucent hand. It was like a veil wrapped around him, you could see the shape of him and what he looked like, but at times you could barely see any of his features, just his outline.

Arthur tapped on the door hesitantly, as if thinking about it. Moments later the door opened and a bulky African American man stepped out, his shoulders were broad and he looked like he was in his mid fifties, but he was muscular still, with a light brown beard.

"Well, well hello 'there Arty what are you doing here?" His voice was friendly but firm. Arthur smiled

"I have a ghostling here, and I was wondering if you could..." The man held up his hand and stared at me with a big grin on his face.

"Say no more Arty, she'll be a staying with us." He winked at me "My wife's always wanted a daughter." A small smile crept on my lips. Maybe I could stay here, on the ranch with a new family. Still, a new family? How could I get back to my other family, oh that's right there alive and I'm dead. I swallowed back the lump in my throat.

Arthur cleared his throat, nervously. "See that's the problem Henry the Demons are after her-" The smile that was strung across Henry's face instantly vanished. "Arthur, you know we had a deal that one time, but I owe nothing to you anymore." Arthur nodded, his dark eyes serious. I wondered what deal they had made before, but judging by the way the man Henry had acted when Arthur had mentioned Demons, I highly doubt the deal was vindicated. But what else did I except from Arthur, who in the ten minutes I had met him had been chased down by...demons?

"I know that Henry, but couldn't this be more of a friendly gesture?" Henry scowled instantly and the kind, warm man I had met seemed to disappear completely. His eyes narrowed angrily, and his jaw set. "Listen here Arthur, I'm finished with your deals, I owe you nothing do you hear me?"  
"I know that but please just a few days, I'll be back in a day okay?" Henry's eyes flickered dangerously, but his expression told me that he was considering it. "Fine Arthur you got yourself a day, but as soon as it ends and you're not here, I'm handing her over to Esther." Esther. Esther was an old fashioned name, and sounded like someone's grandmother could have been named that, but the way he said it... it gave me chills that sent shivers down my spine.

"I'll be back in a day." Arthur retorted immediately. He glanced at me and he gave a curt nod, almost a silent promise that he would keep his word. "You better be." Henry replied coldly, with no emotion. I felt a small ounce of anxiety, what if he wasn't back and I would be thrown over to Esther? I blinked away the nervous tears that were coming, begging them not to cascade down my cheeks. It worked. Arthur began walking away, and I felt desperation take over me.

"Wait!" I cried out, rushing towards him. "Please be back." His eyes seemed to be calculating me, but there seemed to be another emotion his eyes that I couldn't quite place. He stared at me awkwardly before answering. "I will be." Arthur walked a few steps forward than turned back at me. "I promise." He gave me a sad smile, then he melted into the dark shadows, formed by the trees.

**...End of Chapter One, read and leave a comment people! I know I made a few grammer mistakes... lol sorry :) Posting chapter two next week... Friday!**


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